Many young and middle-aged adults are feeling the stress of trying to survive in a world that seems intent on squeezing every last penny out of us until we die (and then some, because let’s not even get started on how expensive funerals are, shall we?).
And we’re not imagining it. The cost of simply existing, even compared to a mere 25 years ago, has nearly doubled.
I even verified it on the official U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for us all because sometimes, I do wonder if it’s just me and my poor budgeting skills (listen, the Halloween Oreos got to me this week, ok? I couldn’t resist..)
But the Consumer Price Index calculator confirmed it: What cost $100 in 2000 costs over $191 today.
The price of living has skyrocketed, and young people especially are feeling the squeeze.
That’s nearly double the cost in just 25 years. When I set it back 5 years, back to 2020, what cost $100 now costs $125.
So no, we’re not all imagining it, and we’re not just “bad” at budgeting. The plain and awful truth is that life just costs way more money now, and even when you’re doing all the “right” things, it can feel impossible to get ahead.
Take TikToker Drew Rose (@drew.rose6) for instance. Drew took to the app to share her frustrations with trying to simply afford life.
“Boomers want to know what it’s like being young in 2025? Here it is,” she said.
Drew explained that despite making DOUBLE minimum wage and living with 4 roommates, she has essentially no money left over.
According to Drew, working a job that pays double minimum wage and sharing housing, she can’t get ahead financially. With the expense of little things adding up, like a new bra and eyelash curler when hers broke, and you know, food, she at one point had only $10 to last her until the following week’s paycheck.
“I’m living off granola bars,” she said.
Even with four roommates, Drew shared that her rent is $850 a month, and she can’t afford to fix her car, which keeps breaking.
She (rather colorfully) compared her situation to that of past times, when minimum wage was plenty enough money for a working man to take care of an entire family, as compared to now, when it isn’t even enough for a single person to survive on.
“Remember back in the good old days when a man could afford to feed, raise, and house his family on minimum wage?” Drew said in frustration in the video. “And he had a second family on the side, who he also housed, fed, and raised?”
Drew admitted her mom helped her buy a car because she couldn't afford to fix hers.
In another video she released after her post about her financial woes, Drew showed off her new-to-her car, which featured manual window handles.
When questioned, the 22-year-old TikToker explained that her mom helped her to be able to purchase the car and that it made more financial sense for her to purchase a car than waste money on Ubers getting back and forth to work, since the transmission in her other car was broken and she couldn’t afford to fix it.
She added that compared to a $4,000 fix for a new transmission on her old car, she only had to put $500 down for the new car.
In her original video, Drew lashed out at the generations before her that she says had it “easy” when it came to affording basic things in life.
“You know what I say to all that? F**k you,” she summarized. “You guys had it so f**king easy, and then you destroyed everything behind you. F**k you.”
People in her comment section agreed with her.
“We all agree. It’s way too exhausting to try to survive,” one surmised sadly.
“850 with 4 roommates is unbelievable, there is no hope for us,” added another.
